Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to protective articles and, more particularly, to lighted visors for use with personal protective equipment (PPE), such as protective suits.
Description of the Related Art
Personal protective equipment, such as suits made of protective garments, is used for protecting people from a hazardous environment in various conditions. Depending on the conditions, protective suits have one or more protective properties, such as chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, flexibility, flex cracking resistance, tear resistance, tensile strength, burst strength, puncture/cut resistance, seam strength, and resistance to ignition and flammability, and the like. Moreover, certain suits are used for medical situations, i.e., to prevent infection from pathogens and exposure to microbes, bacteria, viruses, and the like. Among various features of such protective suits, it is imperative that while wearing the suits, the users can see well in various situations, such as during fire and rescue, defense and military, police responses, hazmat, chemical remediation, biological material remediation, exposure to hazardous gases, and other various industrial situations. Accordingly, visors for use with such suits are required to provide protection for the head and neck of the wearer, while maintaining clear lines-of-sight and vision.
Accordingly, materials for visors must be transparent, which limits the available design options. An additional problem is that designers often must trade off various chemical and physical properties when designing visors for protective suits. For example, visors can become easily scratched, crazed from exposure to liquid chemicals, gaseous chemicals, ultraviolet light, and other environmental factors. Unfortunately, no transparent material can capably provide all of these properties. Further, such suits are often used in low light conditions and, therefore, providing a light source is important. However, it is generally preferable that personnel wearing suits have their hands available for the task at hand instead of having to operate a light source, such as handheld flashlights. Past attempts to solve this problem have provided lights on helmets. However, past solutions are poorly suited for use due to a lack of space. For example, space around the head of the wearer is needed to accommodate helmets, breathing apparatus, face masks, and the like, leaving little room for lighting equipment.
Additionally, in past arrangements, lights shine light onto the surface of the visor, reflecting back into the helmet and to the eyes of the wearer of such suits, reducing the vision of the wearer, particularly when the external conditions are dark. Other past attempts at solving this problem have provided lights attached to the outside of masks, helmets, and the like. Such constructions are not favored because the lights can become mechanically damaged or damaged due to exposure to harsh chemicals during use and, additionally, although suits are, optionally, reusable, in any event, they must be decontaminated before reuse. Decontamination is typically performed using harsh chemicals, which can render the lighting equipment used as light source non-functional. Also, because of the enclosed, typically air-tight, nature of protective suits, fog from perspiration of the wearer often develops on visors. To date, no solution provides remedies for all problems associated with a lighted visor for use with protective suits.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a visor having a light source for use with a protective suit without the previously mentioned drawbacks.